Video: “The Stig” Sets New Top Gear USA Record In A Hennessey ZR750

Around the world millions of viewers tune into a show called Top Gear. This is a show who’s success has spawned Australian, Chinese, and American versions of the British original. Here in the U.S., viewers have welcomed an Americanized version of Top Gear with hosts Adam Ferrara, Rutledge Wood, Tanner Foust, and the “tame racing driver,” the Stig.

It is the Stig who stars in this next video from Hennessey Performance Engineering. Behind the wheel of an HPE-enhanced ZR750 Corvette, the Stig set an all-new “unofficial” Top Gear track record. Except, well, not.

We’re not sure who set up Hennessey and the Stig, but somehow they got the elusive mute behind the wheel of an HPE ZR750, which is basically a Corvette ZR1 on steroids. The ZR750 package boosts power to 755 ponies and 728 ft-lbs of torque via a supercharger pulley upgrade, high-flow cylinder heads and intake, a camshaft and header upgrade, and more. Lots more.

With all this extra horsepower at his disposal, the Stig was able to complete a circuit around the Top Gear Test Track in 1:21.4 seconds. But there is an asterisk there. While the next-fastest car was the 2010 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR, Tanner Foust’s own Fiesta RallyCross completed the circuit in 1:19.5, almost 2 seconds quicker, though it is far from a street-legal road car. We’re not sure if the HPE ZR750 will star in Season 3, but if it does, that track just might have an official new record holder.

About the author

Chris Demorro

Christopher DeMorro is a freelance writer and journalist from Connecticut with two passions in life; writing and anything with an engine. This has led him to pursue a full time career as a freelancer with a focus on motor vehicles of all kinds.